1. In 2016, Bill 170, An Act to proclaim the week immediately preceding the third Sunday in
June as Men’s Health Awareness Week, was tabled in the Ontario legislature to recognize
the importance of addressing men’s health issues.
Would your government re-introduce this legislation or support its passage if it were
reintroduced in the House?

Absolutely! I know that men are often uncomfortable with testing when it involves issues related to the ‘nether regions” and often find out something is wrong when it is too late to deal with.

2. In Canada, the suicide rate for males is at least three times higher than the rate for females.
What action would your government take to address the high rate of male suicide?

The Green Party will invest $4.1 billion over 4 years, an additional $2 billion above the projected increases in the 2018 budget, into mental health services as the first step to making mental health services part of OHIP+. Greens will create a new umbrella organization called Mental Health and Addictions Ontario to consolidate and prioritize mental health and addictions programs and services consistently across Ontario.

3. All victims of domestic violence deserve support. According to Statistics Canada’s 2014
General Social Survey on Family violence,
“equal proportions of men and women reported being victims of spousal violence during the
preceding 5 years (4%, respectively). This translated into about 342,000 women and 418,000
men across the provinces.”
There are over 177 shelters and residential facilities in Ontario for abused women. There are
0 shelters dedicated to male victims of domestic violence and their families.
Would your government provide funding to support opening Ontario’s first shelter for
abused fathers and children?

This is a tough one. I think it is a great idea, but I don’t think there is enough awareness about this issue. I would certainly put it forward to our leadership to address.

4. Boys are dropping out of school and enrolling in post-secondary institutions at rates
significantly lower than their female counterparts. Children succeed when they have mentors
or role models with whom they can readily identify. In publicly funded preschool and
primary school the percentage of male teachers is about 16%.
What action, if any, would your government take to recruit men into the teaching
profession, in particular in preschool and elementary school?

There is no question that the ratio of women to men teachers is very slanted. How to address this issue is tough. We first have to address the issue of running 2 publicly funded school boards. If we could consolidate them, there would be more budget to hire more teachers. The amount of redundancy in the system could open the door to so many possibilities, including opening the door for more men to teach in schools.

5. According to research from the Fatherhood Project, based out of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital, father involvement is critical to advancing positive health and psychosocial outcomes in children. Children with a strong father-child relationship display higher levels of self-control, are more likely to succeed in school and are less likely to engage in substance abuse. When a family breaks-up, a child counts on his or her father to continue to provide financial support but also and equally important, to maintain a strong, loving and active relationship. In Ontario, the Family Responsibility Office recognizes the first need by enforcing child support payments by non-custodial parents. At this time, however, there is no agency in Ontario that enforces child access orders generated by family courts, which is critical to ensure that non-custodial parents are able to maximize involvement with their children. Would you support expanding the mandate of the Family Responsibility Office or another provincial agency to enforce child access orders?

YES!

6. The #MeToo movement has alerted us to a problem with coercive and harassing behavior in the workplace. The focus now is to develop appropriate measures to effectively address this problem without generating unintended negative consequences. In particular, we must be careful to preserve the underlying moral principles of our legal system, which have been refined over centuries. What role, if any, does the Government of Ontario have in taking steps to improve workplace culture in a manner that also protects the rights of accused individuals?

Unfortunately, this issue is still in its infancy. I understand that the pendulum has swung one direction, which makes any non-condoned behavior treated as criminal, no matter if the behavior was criminal or not. Not all crimes require a punishment of life imprisonment. At this time, the Ontario Government would need to consult more with Mental Health experts and behavioral scientists to find better ways to educate people in the workplace and create programs to encourage sensitivity training.